Date:         Thu, 14 Dec 1995 05:46:29 -0600 (CST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David L Finet <finet@students.uiuc.edu>
Subject:      Re: 71 Bus: Lola needs her steering wheel removed, please help!

 
	I'm afaid that I'll get a bunch of "NO, NOT THAT WAY" type 
rebuttals to this but here goes (it worked for me)...
	I had to replace the turn signal on my '71 this fall, and my 
mechanic buddy was helping me out.  When it came time to pull the 
steering wheel, he grabbed a rubber mallet and gave a few medium sized 
taps on the underside of the wheel as close to the post as possible.  As 
soon as it started to move, he was able to rock it off. That in and of 
itself made me flinch when I saw it, I was sure that the wheel was about 
to be blasted to smithereens... then to get to the wiring, he loosened 
the bolts on the little plate that goes from under the dash and holds the 
post tight up against the dash and just ***bent it down towards the nose***.
I about fainted at the sight of my beloved bus getting handled like 
that.  Unfortunately it is about the only way to get to the wiring 
without taking the bracket off which in turn is about impossible because 
the bolts up by the nose are tough to get to.  When we were done, he 
simply bent the bracket back and you can't even tell that it was ever 
bent down.  
	BTW, be careful to get the connection to the horn at the base of 
the steering post back together (a good time to clean the connection) and 
working before you put everything back together if you go with this 
method.